“What kind of a world are we dealing with?” One that is wounded….

Jonathan Gosling

In response to the question “What kind of a world are we dealing with?” here is a portion of Jonathan Gosling’s response, synthesized from several sources.

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It’s wounded world, socially and environmentally, struggling to deal with the damage we are doing. This is not all new; in many ways, it’s the same old world. Most things continue: we need to eat, preferably with savour; to educate ourselves and others, enjoy nature, care for the people we love and deepen ouyr our humanity through art, culture, and spiritual life. Heaven save us from leaders who champion change if they forget or ignore all that continues and should be preserved! This is where distributed leadership becomes crucial; no central authority or charismatic hero can know enough detail about the particular pleasures and local conditions of our lives; it’s down to us to get organized (loosely) and vocal (sonorously), and to take a lead in making things better.

Note: Gosling also thinks ours is a wiki world and a worldly world.  I share those thoughts in separate posts.

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Jonathan Gosling is Professor of Leadership and Director of the Centre for Leadership Studies at University of Exeter Business School since 2002. He is currently leading the worldwide launch of the One Planet MBA while conducting research into emerging concepts of leadership, extending earlier work on the distribution and practice of leadership in Higher Education. Other on-going research includes the study of change and continuity in large organizations, and the processes by which leadership is legitimized in minority communities.

Vince Lombardi, Leader of Men – He Made Them Better; He Loved Them

Think about this.  To succeed, you have to hire the right/best people.  Then, these people have to reach their highest level of competency; they have to get better, and then keep getting better, at what they do, constantly; they have to identify their weaknesses and overcome them; they have to work well with others — as a team.

So, where do we go to learn how to get all of these steps right; hire the right/best people, make them better; help them become a close, committed team.  One name that may be a true exemplar, worthy of study, is the name Vince Lombardi.

Two keys:

1)   He made his players better.

2)  He loved his players.

These are two key points that come through in a new play based on Vince Lombardi’s life and career.  And, in this segment on the play on NPR by Mike Pesca (Weekend Edition, Saturday), it is clear that a whole new theater audience, notably different from the typical theater audience, is attending this play:  people with Packers jerseys and helmets in hand, former players who laugh, and cry, within the first five minutes.  This is a wonderful segment!

Here are a couple of key excerpts (from the transcript), quotes from Dan Luria who plays Vince Lombardi, and from Judith Light, who plays his wife, Marie Lombardi:

Mr. LURIA: I’ll tell you one thing about his players, everyone one of them the first five minutes I’m on the floor laughing, and within five minutes every one of them had a tear in their eye. Did you see Sonny Jurgensen last night? He had tears in his eyes. They really love this guy. He made them better. He made them better.

Ms. JUDITH LIGHT (Actress): (as Marie Lombardi) He loved his players. And I don’t mean he just likes them an awful lot; he truly actually loves them.

Hire the right people.  Make them better.   Love them along the way.  This is the challenge of true leadership.  It always has been — it always will be.

{Click here to listen to this segment (it is about 5 1/2 minutes long), and read the transcript}.

 

Athena Vongalis-Macrow and Andrea Gallant advocate, “Stop Stereotyping Female Leaders”

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Athena Vongalis-Macrow and Andrea Gallant for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out other articles and resources, and/or sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Review’s Daily Alerts, please click here.

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Women’s leadership programs are charged with imagining a new type of woman leader for whom leadership is an attainable aspiration. But effective leadership education for women is still a haven for bad practices that send mixed messages to aspiring leaders. There are two types of practices that work to stereotype women in leadership:

First, programs rely on bringing out the superwoman as a model of leadership.

On the final day of our leadership program, a woman was invited to present her tips for getting ahead to a group of aspirational young female leaders. She was in her mid-forties, a professor and dean of a business faculty, and had just given birth to twins through IVF. She was immaculately put together, on stilettos all day. Can we do all that? Why do so many women’s leadership programs send out this unrealistic and exhausting message? There is a lack of women leaders as role models,  but sustaining stereotypes of the superwoman is no solution. For role models to be effective, they need to be both inspirational and motivational. Consider the context of aspiring women leaders, who dismiss the idea that work is your entire life and a woman needs to go it alone and to have it all. The superwoman is not affirming of choices and balance. She continues to perpetuate the traditional notion that doing leadership about getting control, dominance, and power, at all costs. Instead, leadership programs need to increase the repertoire of role models so leadership is feasible, flexible, and appealing at all stages of a career. Such role models could be better fostered from our networks and our exemplary peers, rather than from exaggerated tokens of women’s leadership.

Second, programs focus on the common narratives about the woes of women in leadership.

Glass ceilings, the double binds of family and work, and discriminatory nature of organizations reinforce ideas that women are vulnerable and need fixing. Women need a better way to use the language of self-promotion and accountability. We know that language creates the reality of how individuals see themselves. So, while leadership language for women still focuses on barriers and struggles, this practice maintains the backlash avoidance model of success, which suggests that women fear negative repercussions from self-promotion and standing out. It is no wonder that women can often negotiate a better deal for others than they can for themselves. Compare this language context to that of male leadership programs which are littered with the narratives of success. Males learn to take charge, tackle challenges, develop talent, driving innovation and guide change. Disrupting the stereotypical use of language should be a focus of women’s leadership programs.

Women’s leadership programs are necessary to accelerate women’s leadership aspirations. But just having a women’s leadership program isn’t enough. If it’s not done right, women can’t move forward. Effective programs for tomorrow’s leaders should disrupt stereotyping.

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Athena Vongalis-Macrow and Andrea Gallant are academic researchers working in education and leadership at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia. Presently they are writing a book, Glass Wall Barriers.

They can be contacted at info@glasswalls.com.au.

Steve Tobak on “4 small ways to solve big management problems”

Steve Tobak

Here is an article written by Steve Tobak for BNET, The CBS Interactive Business Network. To check out an abundance of valuable resources and obtain a free subscription to one or more of the BNET newsletters, please click here.

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Whether you’re a product manager, an HR professional, or a CFO, we all face difficult challenges. That comes with the territory. But sometimes, critical issues are also the hardest ones to solve because they’re outside our functional expertise or there simply is no training to help resolve them.

For example, what if you’re not connecting eye-to-eye with your boss, an important peer, or a key employee? I’m not talking about a conflict; we’re all trained in conflict resolution. I’m talking about a relationship that’s just not clicking. You’ve racked your brain and can’t figure it out. Even the other person doesn’t know why.

Or your staff meetings are lifeless and unproductive, nobody’s engaged. You’ve bounced some ideas around and nothing seems to work. Or you’re constantly double-booked in meetings and deluged with interruptions and just can’t seem to find time to get any real work done. Something’s got to give.

Well, I’ve often found that small, simple changes can solve some of the most daunting management problems. Here are a few stories that will offer some interesting ideas. More importantly, they’ll get you thinking about how to solve your biggest challenges in a different way. You’ll see what I mean:

1. The curious case of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde CEO

Years ago, I was having one helluva time connecting with my boss, the CEO of a public company I’d just joined. He was a stoic, methodical, and controlling guy. I was having difficulty with his micromanaging style and the mismatch seemed uncomfortable for him too.

I was commiserating with a peer who had worked for the guy for years, when he asked:

“When do you have your weekly one-on-ones with him?”

“On Tuesdays,” I said.

“No, not the day,” he said, “What time are your meetings?”

“Um, 10 o’clock,” I replied, wondering what that had to do with anything.

“Try moving them to the afternoon, after lunch,” he said. “It’ll make a big difference. You’ll see.”

“Okay, I’ll try it.”

To say I was skeptical is an understatement. Still I was willing to try anything. So I did. And you know what? That was it. Everything changed. He was like a different person after lunch, more open and collaborative. No idea why.

We got along famously after that. What started as a nightmare, probably for both of us, ended up as a great relationship.

2. How taking walks saved a company

Then there’s the CEO who showed up for our usual weekly meeting and asked if I wanted to take a walk. I said sure. I love to walk. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but it had to do with growing up in Brooklyn, where my family didn’t own a car. My dad loved to take walks, so that was like our bonding time, when I had him all to myself. I loved those walks.

Anyway, the weekly meetings with my CEO turned into weekly walks around the neighborhood surrounding our headquarters. I don’t know if it was the open air, the exercise, or the father-son thing (for me, anyway), but something clicked. We were in the midst of restructuring the company, and those walks became our strategy sessions that solved a host of critical issues.

3. Dilbert fixed my staff meeting problem

I used to hold my weekly staff meetings in the morning and, for some reason, they really sucked. Then, in a Scott Adams Dilbert book, of all places, I read that managers should hold meetings in the afternoon because most people did their best thinking and were most productive in the morning.

Well, I floated the idea to my staff and they all concurred. We changed the time to afternoon and, lo and behold, everyone was happier and more engaged. The meetings were more effective. Go figure.

4. Can’t work at work? Try working somewhere else

Executive life can be hectic, especially in the fast-paced technology industry. I was always struggling to find time to get any “real” work done. Most days I had back-to-back meetings I couldn’t get out of. And during my rare office time, there were constant, but important, interruptions. That was the nature of our business.

So I started doing my “real” work — strategy, thinking, presentations — in the evenings at home. I’d relax with a glass of wine and be remarkably productive. It wasn’t an everyday thing, just when necessary. And you know what? That was the ticket. It’s been part of my “process” ever since.

Those are just a few examples of how a simple tweak can solve a big, thorny management problem. What big challenges have you solved with small changes?

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Steve Tobak is a consultant, writer, and former senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He’s the managing partner of Invisor Consulting, a Silicon Valley-based firm that provides strategic consulting, executive coaching, and speaking services to CEOs and management teams of small-to-mid-sized companies. Find out more at www.invisor.net.

Arkadi Kuhlmann (ING Direct USA) in “The Corner Office”

Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in

Arkadi Kuhlmann

the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Arkadi Kuhlmann, chairman and president of ING Direct USA. Each year, he asks his employees if they want him to stay on, because “I don’t want to serve here unless I’ve got the commitment of people genuinely wanting me to serve.”

To read the complete interview and Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.

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Bryant: What advice would you give to somebody who’s about to become a C.E.O. for the first time?

Kuhlmann: The one thing that you’re going to have to work on is being able to think on your feet. If you didn’t grow up as a street kid, you’d better start thinking like a street kid, because you’re going to have lots of surprises.

People are always testing you. People are always watching you. You are always on. You have to understand that everything’s being interpreted, and you have to keep thinking in two and three dimensions.

The only reason you’re going to be a leader is because people are going to follow you, and they’re only going to follow you if they have confidence in you. And the No. 1 job of a C.E.O. is to eliminate doubt. My only job, really, is to eliminate doubt in every situation.

Bryant: But it’s also a C.E.O.’s job to ask questions.

Kuhlmann: You’ve got to understand the timing. No one expects you to always say, “My way, my way.” That’s not what I’m talking about. But if we have this meeting, somewhere in the meeting or at the end of the meeting, they’re going to look to you because you’re the C.E.O., and they’re going to say, is there any doubt? There may be disagreements, different views, but people need confidence. Companies need confidence, and that’s a big part of my role.

Bryant: Were you always a leader, even when you were younger?

Kuhlmann: I do put my hand up. In school, if the teacher asked a question, I’d put my hand up. If I’m in a room or a crowd of people, I tend to just get involved. Usually, I really like whatever the problem is. I like to get close to the fire. Some people have a desire for that, I’ve noticed, and some people don’t. I just naturally gravitate to the fire. So I think that’s a characteristic that you have, that’s in your DNA.

Bryant: How has your leadership style evolved over time?

Kuhlmann: I’m probably a bit more deliberate now than I probably was 10 or 15 years ago.

Bryant: What does that mean?

Kuhlmann: I used to do meetings and say, O.K., somebody’s got to lead. Enough discussion. This isn’t a democracy. We’re doing it and that’s it. I probably did more of that in the past. I do probably a lot less of that now.

Bryant: Why?

Kuhlmann: I think I’m able to handle a lot more frustration now than I used to. I can tolerate much more chaos. I can probably emotionally tolerate you making mistakes for another week and a half, whereas 10 years ago I would have said, “O.K., that’s enough.”

Now I’m willing to let you sort of stir around because I’m very conscious of you being critical of me micromanaging or making decisions too fast or saying that I won’t listen. I’m a little bit more sensitive about those issues than I was years ago.

Bryant: What else?

Kuhlmann: The other thing I’ve learned is that a lot of times, things work a lot better when I’m not there. I hate to say that, but it’s absolutely true.

And I learned that, actually, from my two young boys. You know, like a typical dad, you play with them, and then they have something they’re working on, and I try to help them. And then I go away because I’m off running an errand or doing something else. I come back, and they’ve done it actually quite well on their own. And the light bulb goes on, saying, well, sometimes you’ve just got to let people do their own thing. And they will get it done.

Bryant: What is unusual about the way you run your company?

Kuhlmann: I’ve been the C.E.O. for 10 years. In December, I’m asking the employees again, would you vote for me to serve with you another year? And all my colleagues think I’m nuts, and the board thinks I’m nuts. But I don’t want to serve here unless I’ve got the commitment of people genuinely wanting me to serve.

Bryant: Tell me more about that.

Kuhlmann: It’s a vote. It’s anonymous, of course. I’m not asking for a popularity contest. Part of it is, do you have faith in the mission? Do you have faith in the company? Do you have faith in me? Now, the shareholders are O.K. with me, the board’s O.K. with me, the regulators are O.K. with me, and my customers seem to like me. But what about the associates? It’s a big question.

The difficulty is getting people to interpret why I do this vote. I want people to get two things from this. One is that I don’t take the job for granted. And, No. 2, that I’m willing to be accountable to them, not because I work for them in a broader sense, but I’ve got to walk the talk, right? So if I keep walking around saying all the time that our associates are so important, then why don’t they have a say in terms of whether or not I’m leading?
Corner Office

How would you finish a paragraph that begins, “My philosophy of leadership is … ”?

Kuhlmann: My philosophy of leadership is to be authentic in the way you deal with people. And that means if you’re going to walk the talk, that you actually do that. The second thing is that leadership is about service, and you can’t lead if you can’t follow. And so you’ve got to create a mission.

It is never about you. It is always about the mission. And people will follow you if you’re prepared to get a mission done, something with a goal that is a little bit beyond the reach of all of us. That’s what leadership’s about.